"What name?"
Translation:Jaké jméno?
26 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
What's wrong with "Co jméno?" here? Wouldn't "Jaké jméno?" be better translated as "What sort of name?"?
"Co jméno" does not mean anything in Czech. WHAT in english can mean both CO and JAKÝ.
What books did you order? You are asking what kind, what they are like... thus JAKÉ
So with the "what books did you order?" example you gave, are the titles of the books an acceptable answer? Saying it like "what kind, what they are like" sounds to me like what sorts of genres of books were ordered.
I've been understanding Jaké as being able to be paraphrased to "what sort" in English, but that doesn't seem to work for me on the "What name?" or "What books did you order?" examples, and so now I guess I just don't understand what Jaké means after all...
I went through the same thought process.. but here's the problem I came up with to our argument that „Co jméno" should be right...
It's improper English. Proper English would be "Which name" or "Which books".
Staring from that point, we now have který or jaký to choose from. But the question is the asking which name, but what name, therefore jaký is the choice over který.
Jaké jméno.
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This is extremely misleading. 'What name?' in English is more likely to be a question you'd ask if someone said a name and you didn't quite hear it so you might say, What name?. I have never asked and don't think I'll ever ask, and I've never been asked or heard asked, 'What kind of name?'. You may hear an unusual name and say to someone, 'What kind of name is that?', but never just 'What kind of name?'. If Co jméno means nothing in Czech then I think it better at this stage not to ask us to translate 'What name?'.
'What name?' in English is more likely to be a question you'd ask if someone said a name and you didn't quite hear it so you might say, What name?.
In Czech "Jaké jméno?" as well. What is misleading about that?
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What is misleading now is that in a previous post you said Jaké jméno? does not mean that. It means, What kind of name.
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Perhaps you would explain these comments that you wrote eleven months ago.
QUOTE: 'Co jméno." does.not.mean anything.'
The meaning of the English word 'what' in this question without anything qualifying it translates into Czech as co. However, you say the question, Co jméno? is meaningless in Czech. You tell us the answer should be: Jaké jméno. However, jaké does not really translate into English as 'what', which, in English implies what (thing). If you want us to translate 'what name' into Czech as jaké jméno, the English out to be, 'What kind of name?'.
You simply cannot translate sentences word by word. That is not how foreign language learning works and you should know that well with the number of flags on your profile.
English what is not used exactly the same way Czech co is, although most often the equivalence is pretty good. You have to accept that. Sometimes you can use "Co za ..." to make a meaningful sentence. It could be theoretically also be used here. Co alone does not make sense. It simply does not make a valid Czech sentence stub or even a valid Czech phrase.
jmw98, I think you meant "které". I tried it, but DL rejected it. Would someone please explain?
Které jméno is better translated as "which name". We may consider accepting it anyway, but no promises.
I hope you do. I just put Které jméno? and it was marked wrong. In English, "What name?" and "Which name?" are essentially the same thing.
Hello! I also hope DL will accept "Které jméno?"
I would like a native Czech speaker's input on this. "What name?" can be interpreted as "What kind of name?", which is "Jaké jméno?", but also as "Which name?", which is "Které jméno?" I don't think "What name?" should automatically be interpreted as "What kind of name?" (Sorry to repeat this, as a few of you already stated that.)
Additionally, I don't think that construction "What + noun?" exists in any other language (because it really doesn't have any sense). But I have limited knowledge so I can be wrong, of course.
Edit
It just occurred to me. Maybe we should consult an English native speaker. Does "What name?" mean only "What kind of name?" and should not be used for "Which name?"
FWIW: My personal native AmE opinions are (1) I accept the explanations of the Czech natives about the difference between jaký and který, as there is no reason not to, since I am learning Czech; (2) It doesn't make sense to keep beating this linguistic dead horse; and (3) I fervently hope that this exercise will be "disappeared" from the new Czech tree, as it is probably causing a lot of unnecessary linguistic angst on both sides, the mental energy devoted to which could be better employed elsewhere.
Soapbox speech ended -- hopefully without ruffling anyone's feathers... too much, anyway! Maybe other EN natives will weigh in with different opinions.
I am also having difficulty in understanding how 'jaky' is used. I would translate 'Jake jmeno' as what kind or sort of name is that which is totally different to what name. With the books example I would agree if you ask 'what kind of books did you order' would be asking for genre while 'what books did you order would refer to titles. Can somebody explain use of 'Jake', it seems idiomatic to me.
jaké can mean both What kind/sort of and Which.
Yes, these two are different, but without context the jaký/jaká/jaké can mean both.
I think that "what name" and "which name" in English are similar enough in meaning to allow "které jméno" as the answer in the English to Czech example. Context: a couple is discussing baby names. One says, "My friend Sarah says she likes (unintelligible) best." The other says, "What name?"
You would say, "Jak se jmenuješ" (singular) or "Jak se jmenujete" (plural/formal). You can think of it more or less literally as "How do you name yourself?"